Flutter vs. React Native in 2024: Compare and contrast mobile application development

In 2024, if there's a theme in mobile app development, Flutter and React Native are two frameworks that will reign supreme. It seems that both Xcode and Android Developer Tools have very viable cross-platform SDKs, showing programmers that they can build apps that are compatible with both iOS and Android from one environment. But before an entrepreneur compares the best framework, he or she should always consider the pros and cons of each. This guide will help business professionals, application and programme developers, and any manager with an IT background to make the right decision about Flutter for Apps and React Native for Mobile Apps based on their needs.Nine key points to compare.

1. An overview of Flutter and React Native: What are they?

What is Flutter?

Flutter is a UI toolkit developed by Google to build native, compiled applications for mobile web operating systems and desktops from a single source of code. Based on Dart, the amount of widgets ready to use in Flutter is large, making it a strong contender for any business that needs high performance and very beautiful applications.

• Cross-platform development:: Flutter for Apps means that your application can be developed to the same standard of the Android and IOS operating systems.
• Customisable widgets:: Flutter has a rich set of widgets, which means that the developer can disable/enable specific widgets from their application depending on the needs of the business, and this is why this topic will attract so much attention from businesses that want to design their application in a unique way.

What is React Native?

React Native is an open source framework for building native mobile applications using JavaScript and React. Unlike Flutter, which is based on Dart, React Native helps build the app for both platforms, iOS and Android, reusing code in most cases but with the ability to communicate with native APIs and components when necessary.

• JavaScript-based: It soon became clear that the specific cross-platform framework required for mobile would be a good one for developers who already knew JavaScript, and would be similar in application to web development.
• Native component access: By allowing developers to interact directly with components, React Native provides more flexibility over components, which is especially important for large enterprises that may need more control over how the application runs and behaves.

2. Performance comparison: Which framework is faster?

Flutter's performance

Flutter has a slight performance advantage here due to Dart's Ahead of Time (AOT) compilation. This allows Flutter-based apps to warm up quickly because the code in question is already compiled before it reaches the device, which is an improvement over the days when React Native was written in JavaScript.

• Fast startup: With Flutter for apps, there are performance gains due to the fact that Flutter is pre-compiled and an app delivers smooth performance immediately upon launch, which is critical for apps that deliver experiences to users.
• Smooth rendering: Flutter also has its own rendering engine, giving the developer more control over how the application looks, resulting in smoother transitions and animations.

React Native's performance

React Native is quite efficient in most cases because it optimises the performance of the JavaScript it interprets at runtime. This can lead to query and rendering bottlenecks, especially for more complex software that requires dynamic resource calculations or graphics. However, with certain optimisations such as just-in-time (JIT) compilation, we know that Facebook's React Native can provide good performance for most applications.

• Real-time performance: Next, we can mention that the efficiency of mobile apps built with React Native can be increased thanks to native modules, while fine-tuning can be even more demanding for developers. This makes React Native favourable for many types of applications, but it may be difficult to build applications that require high performance.

3. Development speed and tools: Which is better to develop with over time?

Flutter: Speed and tools

One of Flutter's strengths is its short development time. Developers can perform a hot reload to see the changes in the code immediately, reducing development time.

• Hot Reload: The app version of Flutter is famous for its hot reload feature, which allows multiple changes to be rehearsed simultaneously without rebooting. This is a huge advantage that can save companies time in getting apps to market.
• Widget library: It also offers a huge catalogue of widgets that enhances the veneer of ready-to-use widgets, which helps in developing the UI part as developers do not need to draw the UI components to build the part from scratch.

React Native: Speed and tools

Like any other framework, React Native offers a hot reload feature, but it is a little less optimised than Flutter. Instead, it has a more diverse system and offers many more libraries for developers to use in most regions.

• Hot Reload and developer tools: For mobile apps, there is a fast iteration process associated with React Native development, although it is not as fast as Flutter's hot swapping. Nevertheless, developers are provided with the vast amount of JavaScript-based tools implemented in the React Native ecosystem.
• Ecosystem and libraries: As a result, React Native is more advantageous as developers are able to get more third party libraries that will help to speed up the development of particular features or functionalities.

4. UI and design: How do they stack up on the aesthetic front?

An overview of Flutter and its remarkable UI design capabilities

Flutter is known for creating stunning and fully synchronised UIs for both iOS and Android apps. Its widget-based approach gives developers complete freedom in terms of appearance and functionality.

• Consistency across platforms: Flutter for Apps ensures that applications look the same across all platforms. This is a huge boon for those who want a standard interface for the applications they use, without having to constantly work around the 'idiosyncrasies' of one platform or another.
• Customisation options: Because Flutter has so many widgets available for customisation, companies can make the native parts of the application truly unique and stand out.

The design of the UI: React Native

React Native has a lot of flexibility, but because it uses the native components, it can be more difficult to maintain a similar look and feel across platforms. This makes it important for companies that need more control over the application's UI to look deeper into native code.

• Access to native components: Mobile apps using React Native offer the ability to access native UI components to make the platform feel more natively generated, but this adds another layer of difficulty.
• UI customisation: Overall, in terms of UI customisation, React Native is not bad and provides tools for this, although in some cases developers may need to build new components or use additional libraries to achieve the same level of visual cohesion as with Flutter.

5. Ecosystem and libraries: Which framework's resources to contact more?

Flutter Ecosystem

The Flutter environment is growing rapidly, and although it is not as rich in libraries as React Native, it is making progress. As Flutter is still relatively new, the choice of packages and resources will only grow as interest in it grows.

• Growing ecosystem: When it comes to apps, Flutter for apps has the advantage of a growing ecosystem, but sometimes developers can run into limitations when using third-party libraries or tools.
• Community and documentation: A large and active community has formed around Flutter; developers are welcome to read documents written by Google and other developers in the Flutter community.

React Native Ecosystem

React Native, being older, has a much more mature ecosystem. It boasts a wide variety of libraries and third-party components that can simplify development, especially for businesses that need specialized features.

• Established Ecosystem: React Native for mobile apps offers a rich set of libraries and tools that can save time during development. However, with the upcoming changes to React Native’s architecture, some older libraries may need updates.
• Wide range of resources: React Native's vast library of plugins, tools, and resources makes it easier to integrate features like payments, social media, maps, and more into apps.

6. Security and testing: How secure are the frameworks?

It has well-developed measures to support secure storage and data encryption. The framework also supports code obfuscation, which makes development difficult for attackers. Security also seems solid in React Native, which comes with third-party libraries for data storage and encryption. Like Flutter, it supports code obfuscation to make apps more secure. Security is always important in mobile app development, and both Flutter and React Native offer features to make apps more secure.

Flutter

For Flutter for apps, some security measures are already in place to protect user data and interaction.

• Secure storage and encryption: Flutter for apps provides secure storage options available in the flutter_secure_storage libraries, which are used to encrypt data on the device. Flutter also provides functionality for encrypting data and creating secure communication paths, which is important for companies that handle customer data.
• Code Obfuscation: Flutter also allows application developers to use code obfuscation, a method by which the source code of the application is not easily understood by the attacker. This feature is particularly useful for companies that do not want to allow others to see their code, such as through piracy and other means.
• Built-in security libraries: Flutter also has numerous security-related libraries for data protection, API connectivity and authentication services, making it easier to integrate these fundamental aspects into applications.

Security features in React Native

Similar to what we have seen with Flutter, React Native offers decent security choices, but due to the presence of native components and the execution of actions through the JavaScript runtime, there are slight discrepancies in how security is implemented.

• Secure storage and encryption: Mobile application development using React Native relies on third-party libraries, including the react-native-keychain for storing passwords, tokens and other secure information. To do this, these libraries encrypt the data so that even if the device is compromised, the data cannot be retrieved.
• Native modules for security: Another area where businesses can benefit from React Native is in working with native code, which allows businesses to take advantage of platform-specific security practices: biometric identification (fingerprint, Face ID) and encryption algorithms that come with both iOS and Android platforms.
• Vulnerabilities and updates: Because React Native relies on JavaScript and third-party components, organisations must regularly update these components to ensure that their materials do not contain a security vulnerability. The community works diligently to address security issues, but organisations need to constantly scan their code for vulnerabilities.

Testing support: How many testing tools are included in the frameworks?

Testing is a critical concept in app development, and both Flutter for apps and React Native for mobile apps offer great opportunities for testing.

1. Flutter's testing capabilities
   Due to the many benefits it provides for mobile app development, Flutter is equipped with comprehensive testing capabilities. Flutter comes with the most testing features right out of the box. It also includes several types of testing frameworks to ensure proper testing at all levels - from the unit level to the GUI level.

   • 1.1. Unit and widget testing:
     For applications, each unit of functions or classes and widgets of the UI can be tested with Flutter through unit testing and widget testing. This helps to ensure that the logic of the application and the implemented GUI of the operating system are sufficiently stable when exposed to various conditions.

   • 1.2. Integration testing
     Flutter also offers integration testing, where you test how different parts of the application work together. Companies that want their applications to work efficiently across multiple devices and platforms will find Flutter's built-in integration testing helpful.

   • 1.3. UI testing
     With the flutter_driver package, companies can also perform effective UI testing, eliminating the frustration of having to do it manually, while ensuring that an application has an effective UI for all screens and devices.

2. Testing features provided by React Native
   React Native offers many testing solutions for use, but because the framework relies heavily on third-party libraries, the quality of testing can be highly dependent on the libraries and tools chosen.

   • 2.1. Unit and component testing
     For mobile applications using React Native, the Jest and Moch libraries for testing units and individual components are available. It is convenient to set up the exercise of testing the application independently to check that its components work properly.

   • 2.2. Integration testing
     This is done to check that multiple components can work together optimally in a production environment; this is known as integration testing and is also supported in React Native. Tools such as Detox can be used for end-to-end testing that actually mimics user interactions.

   • 2.3. Automated UI testing
     Some of the ways used to automate the UI testing in React Native include Detox and Appium testing tools that help one to draw a small test box of variation to ensure that the customers get a smooth UI across the devices.

Which Framework Offers Better Security and Testing?

Both Flutter for apps and React Native for mobile apps offer really good welfare or security and testing, and the choice seems to depend on the needs and preferences of the team and the level of security that your organization requires.

• Flutter's strength
  Compared to the usual tools for unit, widget, and integration testing, Flutter has these built into its framework. Due to the variety of security options, such as encrypted storage and code confusion, this may be good for companies that insist on security from the start.
• React Native's strength
  React Native is a mature framework, with many libraries available for third-party applications and testing services. While developers need to ensure that security libraries are updated, security in React Native is completely flexible and companies can add their specific security features when working with native code. In summary, both frameworks provide the means to build applications that are secure and contain very few, if any, dynamically generated bugs. However, with built-in security and test automation, businesses may feel more comfortable with Flutter than React Native, while flexibility and a focus on open solutions may make them prefer React Native.

7. App Size and Native Modules: How Do They Affect Your Growth?

App size with Flutter

The main drawback of Flutter when it comes to apps is that the final size of the resulting application can be quite large. As a result, Flutter apps are generally larger than apps built with other technologies such as React Native, due to the Flutter engine and its precompiled construction.

• Larger app sizes
  The fact that Flutter for apps already includes the rendering engine and framework in the build of the app can result in the app being quite large when complete. This may be a concern for companies looking to develop lightweight apps with a small memory footprint.

• Optimisation efforts
  Let's now discuss some important considerations for keeping the app size small Despite this, Flutter does offer features that help reduce the size of the app, including tree-shaking to remove unused code where necessary, so a company may need to deploy developer efforts on this front.

App size with React Native

In most cases, apps developed using React Native are often smaller than those developed using Flutter. This is mainly due to the fact that React Native uses native components rather than a rendering engine, which makes the app size much closer to what we would expect from a native app.

• Smaller footprint
  Applications using React Native for mobile tend to be smaller, as a number of the basic functions found in other platforms' frameworks and libraries are implemented in the app itself.

• Native modules and customisation
  The flexibility for developers to add and exclude some native modules allows React Native to be narrower for businesses, but with a smaller app size.

Native modules and Custom components

In both applications, one can include native modules, which suggests that businesses can leverage platform-specific instructions that are not available through the frameworks.

• Flutter’s Native Modules
  Flutter for apps supports integration with native code although this may be a bit cumbersome in comparison to what we see in React Native. It provides platform channels to interact with native code but concerns exist about whether your team is proficient in Dart and the platform’s languages.

• React Native’s Native Modules
  The native modules of React Native enable use of the APIs of the platform, something that can be valuable for a business hence with the added functionalities such as camera, background processing to name but a few. This ability to interface more directly with native code makes React Native all the more appealing for applications that require more native integration.

8. Community support: What does the ecosystem look like?

The question of Flutter's community and support

Flutter's community is growing rapidly, with Google's contribution and developers' preference. However, this framework is much less mature than React Native, and is sometimes confused with it, meaning that it can be difficult to know where to find information and solutions to particular problems.

• Growing community: Flutter for apps has an active and engaged community, particularly in 2024, with more developers joining the ecosystem every year. Google's patronage means that Flutter will continue to evolve, as Google is known for updating and supporting the platform.
• Support resources: Sure, Flutter's community may not be as large as React Native's, but developers have access to extensive documentation resources and forums, and more and more third-party packages are appearing.

About the React Native community and support

Due to its early involvement in the mobile development universe, React Native for mobile has a strong and healthy community behind it. This mature ecosystem is one of the many reasons why developers continue to choose React Native.

• Established ecosystem: The React Native community has been established since 2015, and apart from developers, it also includes the entrepreneurs who use this framework to build the apps. Such a long stable community support implies more materials, guidelines, plugins, and solutions to share with developers.
• Extensive documentation and libraries: As an inhabitant of the platform, React Native has a large list of third-party libraries that can be instrumental in helping businesses incorporate functionalities such as push notifications, analytics, and payment provisioning. However, some of these libraries may need to be updated with newer versions of the framework.

9. Choosing the right framework in 2024: Key factors to consider

Performance versus scalability requirements

When deciding between Flutter and React Native, it is important to consider the performance of the target application and the desired level of scalability.

• High-performance applications: Flutter for Apps is a good choice when it comes to performance, for example for gaming applications or applications with complex views. Its native compilation and high-fluent opacity make it ideal for use in projects that demand simplicity and fast response.
• Scalability: React Native is also highly scalable for applications, but may need more optimization for applications that require a lot of performance. Even then, for less resource-intensive applications, it could take less time and effort to develop in React Native.

Developer skills and experience

The level of sophistication of your development team is crucial.

• JavaScript expertise: Application developers who are familiar with JavaScript will find it easy to build mobile apps with React Native. React, the JS library on which React Native is based, is in active use, and developers used to web development will be comfortable with it.
• Learning curve: Flutter for apps has the Dart language and a completely different approach to React Native, so it has a steeper learning curve. However, its unified user interface, coupled with some robust features, can be rewarding for teams that dedicate their time to studying the framework.

Ecosystem and libraries

If your application requires third-party integration, React Native is the more mature ecosystem.

• Extensive library support: With a greater variety of existing third-party libraries and modules, React Native is a clear winner, as it allows developers to add popular features such as geolocation, local notifications, and social network authorization without significant coding effort.
• Growing Flutter ecosystem: Flutter for apps is still relatively new, and the libraries available still have significant differences from Dart. However, Google's support and community-based penetration suggest that the ecosystem will mature in the near future.

Which framework should you choose in 2024?

The final choice between Flutter and React Native depends on the requirements of your business.

• For organisations looking to build applications that perform well while maintaining design similarity across platforms, Flutter makes sense.
• If your development team is comfortable with JavaScript and needs the rich third-party libraries, React Native may be better.

These two frameworks are on par in terms of cross-platform support. The choice of mobile app development framework for 2024 will depend on your performance needs, your team, and the type of project. It pays to consider variables like community support, developers, and ecosystem maturity to make the best decision for your app.

What else to see on this topic

• Nomtek
• Markovate
• Adapty -TechAhead
• RedCat

Source

• Flutter
• React Native